The first sea turtle nest of the season was discovered early Monday morning by volunteers walking a stretch of private Alabama beach west of Gulf Shores.
The distinctive “crawl” up the steep embankment marked the female’s laborious efforts to reach the flatter sand at the top best suited for nesting.
When the Share the Beach volunteers excavated it to move it from its precarious position too close to the edge of that steep bank for their comfort, they found that, sometime during the night, a loggerhead female had deposited 131 eggs in the nest.
It’s new location farther north on the beach and about 2 miles west of Callaway (Little Lagoon) Pass is now safe, marked with bright green tape and a distinctive yellow sign to let people know it’s there and not to disturb it.
“It’s always exciting when a team finds the first nest,” said Mike Reynolds, director of Share the Beach, a 350-volunteer strong nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting Alabama sea turtles. “We have eight teams of volunteers, and there’s always a little competition among them as to who can find the first nest of the season.”
It’s the beginning of a nesting season that Reynolds hopes mirrors last year when a record 149 sea turtles wallowed out nests across Alabama’s 44 miles of beach.
There are six species of sea turtles in the United States, but three of them typically nest in Alabama. Those include loggerhead, Kemp’s ridley, and green sea turtles, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Dianne Ingram.
Nesting is the only time sea turtles leave the water. Incubation takes from 55 to 70 days, depending on the temperature of the sand.
Sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, “Endangered means the species is considered in danger of extinction throughout a significant portion of its range,” Ingram said. “Threatened means that a species is likely to become endangered.”
Sea turtles typically nest between May and November, she said. A female will make her way to the shore and dig her nest, laying an average of 100 eggs per nest. She then follows the light of the moon to go back into the Gulf.
2012 A BANNER NESTING YEAR
Loggerheads accounted for 145 of the nests found on Alabama beaches in 2012, said Reynolds, who holds the federal permit allowing his trained volunteers to interact with the nests.
Three Kemps ridley turtles made nests here along with a single green sea turtle. From its “crawl” marks, Reynolds estimated the green sea turtle female weighed between 700 and 800 pounds.
Loggerhead females will go 250 to 300 pounds and Kemps ridley turtles are the smallest of the three species that nest here, he said.
Of the 149 nests made on Alabama beaches in 2012, 12 turtles made the unfortunate choice of nesting on Dauphin Island’s beach last year. All of those nests were lost to impacts of tropical storms. Reynolds said. Another five did not hatch for various reasons on the state’s eastern beaches.
In the 12 years Share the Beach volunteers have been walking the beaches, Reynolds said they’ve located an average of 80 nests a year, so 2012 was an exceptionally successful hatch.
“Another amazing thing about these creatures is that females usually nest on the same beach which they were born,” he said.
Since it takes more than two decades for loggerheads to reach breeding age, however, Reynolds said the biological implications of last year’s excellent hatch won’t be seen for many years.
“Last year was a good sign for our sea turtle population right now, but we’re talking biology, so we really won’t know until 10 years from now or longer if it’s the beginning of a trend or if was just an anomaly,” Reynolds said. “It takes 20 to 25 years for loggerheads to become sexually mature, so in terms of the Share the Beach, we won’t start seeing the results of our program until 2020.
“Our kids and grandkids will be the ones who really get to see the changes in sea turtle populations along our beaches.”
Reynolds said he’s gratified by the willingness of Share the Beach’s 350 volunteers to work so hard to protect the turtles even though the results of their efforts are that far off.
“The results of what we’re doing are still years away, yet people still come out and volunteer and help with our efforts,” he said. “We ask them to get up long before dawn every day and most of the time they find nothing but a nice stroll on the beach.”
A very small percentage of the worldwide population of loggerhead turtles nests along central Gulf Coast beaches because they, like those on the Georgia and South Carolina Atlantic coasts, are at the northernmost edge of its home range.
And since in the turtle world that northern sand is cooler than the temperature of sand found in more tropical climates, those areas produce predominately male turtles.
“Like with alligators, the temperature of the nest during incubation is a determining factor in sex ratio at hatching, so we do produce mostly males,” Reynolds said. “Even though we have a small percentage of the population nesting here, you can’t diminish our importance. Somebody’s got to make the males.”
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Although the general public is legally prohibited from disturbing sea turtle nests, there are things people can do to help out this threatened and endangered species.
Too many lights on the beach can confuse a sea turtle and cause her to be stranded. Hatchlings are drawn to the water as moonlight and starlight shimmers off it, but also can head the wrong way toward the street lights or condominium lights, Reynolds said.
That’s why Share the Beach volunteers keep a close eye on expected hatch time of each nest and are usually always there as the first baby turtles emerge.
Other tips include:
* Close blinds and draperies in beachfront rooms at night to keep indoor lighting from reaching the beach.
* Remove recreational equipment such as lounge chairs, cabanas, umbrellas and boats from the beach at night. These items can deter nesting attempts and prevent hatchlings from reaching the Gulf.
Never leave campfires unattended at the beach. Completely put out your fire when leaving.
* Use your natural vision or moonlight when walking on the beach at night.
* If you encounter a turtle on the beach at night, remain quiet and slowly step away to watch her at a distance. Flash photography and human disturbance may prevent her from nesting successfully.
* Properly dispose of your garbage.
If you spot a sea turtle or sea turtle nest, call 1-866-SEA TURTLE. For more information on sea turtles in Alabama, click here or here. Reynolds also Tweets updates on nests found and expected hatch dates @sharethebeach.